Practical guides from your first 5K to marathon race day. Checked against the coaching research, and linked to the free plans and pace tools.
6 guides, written by Samuel Hunt
Beginners7 min readUpdated 7 Oct 2026
A 12-week half marathon training plan for beginners, from running 5K to finishing 21.1 km: long run lengths, the key sessions, fuelling, taper and race pacing.
Science8 min readUpdated 7 Oct 2026
Interval training for runners: tempo runs, intervals, reps and strides, how hard to run each one, a menu of sessions and how many hard days a week you need.
Plans7 min readUpdated 7 Oct 2026
How long your long run should be for 5K to marathon, how fast to run it, how to build it safely and how to fuel runs over 90 minutes.
Racing7 min readUpdated 7 Oct 2026
How long to taper for a 5K, 10K, half or marathon, how much to cut, what race week looks like and the mistakes that cost people on the day.
Racing8 min readUpdated 5 Oct 2026
Even, negative or positive splits, how to pick a realistic goal pace, how to pace each distance and what to eat and drink on race day.
Injury prevention4 min readUpdated 7 Oct 2026
Most running injuries follow a change in training load. What the studies found about the 10% rule, one-off long runs, strength work, cadence and shoes, and how Run-R plans use it.
